Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze '''is a side-scrolling platformer video game developed by Retro Studios with help from Monster Games, and was published by Nintendo on February 14, 2014. It was originally released on the Wii U, however the game was ported to the Nintendo Switch in May 2018. The game involves the player, playing as the main protagonist, Donkey Kong, traversing across multiple different islands with his family, consisting of his son Diddy Kong, Diddy's girlfriend Dixie Kong, and Donkey Kong's father, Cranky Kong, in order to get back to their home of Donkey Kong Island, which has been taken over and covered in snow and ice by the Snowmads, a group of ice Vikings consisting of arctic animals like penguins, walruses, owls and rabbits. Gameplay Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, similar to its predecessors in the Donkey Kong Country series, is a 2D side-scrolling platformer, in which the player controls the main protagonist, Donkey Kong, through many different levels across seven different islands, each with its own unique gameplay elements, enemies and themes. The game features many aspects that return from its predecessor, Donkey Kong Country Returns. For example, the player has two hearts as Donkey Kong, and lose a heart whenever they take damage, and will die when they lose all their hearts. When the player dies, they will respawn at the last checkpoint they passed, however if the player has no more lives left (which in this game are balloons), they will get a game over and will be returned to the world select. Donkey Kong also has abilities that has was able to perform in the last game, such as pick up and throw objects like barrels and enemies, pound the ground in order to destroy weak surfaces beneath him, cling onto grass to climb on walls or ceilings, roll forwards and damage any enemies he rolls through, and also has a new ability which allows him to pluck objects out of the ground. Furthermore, Donkey Kong now has the ability to swim underwater, and can dash into underwater enemies to increase his swim speed, however he will have an air gauge, and will start taking damage if he runs out of air, but this can be replenished by popping air bubbles underwater. Like Donkey Kong Country Returns, the buddy system returns, in which Donkey Kong can bring a buddy on their back which provides further movement capabilities for the player, while also giving the player two extra hearts, however when they lose these two hearts, the player will lose their current buddy. There are a total of three buddies in the game; Diddy Kong, who returns from the last game, who gives Donkey Kong the ability to hover in the air for a few seconds, Dixie Kong, who allows Donkey Kong to hover and fly slightly upwards for a few seconds, and Cranky Kong, who allows Donkey Kong to jump much higher while also making him unable to be hurt by terrain such as spikes. Also, in every level, the player can find and collect K-O-N-G letters, which unlock a bonus level in the world, and can also find Puzzle Pieces, which unlock concept art, music and dioramas. Also, vehicles return in this game, and in certain levels the player can ride either a mine cart or a rocket barrel through the level. The player can also go to Funky's Fly-n-Buy shop in the world select, which allows the player to use the Banana Coins the player has collected in the levels to buy certain items, such as different balloons like red balloons, which act as lives in the game, green balloons, which save the player from falling into pitfalls, and blue balloons, which gives the player a large amount of air while underwater. They can also buy Buddy Barrels which allow the player to throw them at any point in a level to summon a certain buddy to help them, and can buy upgrades such as an extra heart for Donkey Kong or a vehicle, Banana Juice for temporary invincibility, a parrot named Squawks which finds Puzzle Pieces in levels, and can also buy toys from a machine, however it is random which toy will come out. Plot On Donkey Kong Island, the entire Kong family are celebrating Donkey Kong's birthday in his hut, however while they are celebrating, a balloon flies out of a window of the hut and out into the ocean, where a fleet of ice-covered ships appear, led by the Snowmads, a group of ice Vikings consisting of arctic animals. One member of the Snowmads sees the balloon and then Donkey Kong Island, in which he then reports his find to their silhouetted leader, who peers at the tropical island and nods in agreement. The Snowmads start blowing their horns, and a few members bring their leader a gigantic ice-covered horn which he blows, which shoots out a gigantic ice dragon. Meanwhile, the Kongs are still celebrating, and as Donkey Kong is about to blow out the candle on his birthday cake, a snowflake flies through the window and puts it out, annoying Donkey Kong and causing him and his family to exit the hut to see what is happening as strong winds start forming. The ice dragon flies towards the island, creating ice in the ocean underneath it, before creating winds so strong that Donkey Kong and his family are launched off Donkey Kong Island and land miles away in the Lost Mangroves. The head ship of the Snowmad clan starts to fly, and lands atop the volcano of Donkey Kong Island as the ice dragon creates a large trail of ice around the island before forming large storm clouds above the island, revealing Donkey Kong Island now covered in snow and ice as snow falls from the clouds. After travelling across multiple different islands, such as an abandoned desert island, a grassy mountainous island, a beautiful savannah island, a tropical beach island and a fruit-filled jungle island, the Kong family finally makes their way back to the snow-covered Donkey Kong Island and travel up the frozen wasteland to the Snowmad's lair at the top of the volcano under the head ship, where Donkey Kong comes face-to-face with the Snowmad King, Lord Fredrik, a large portly walrus, and the pair have a showdown in the molten core of the volcano. After defeating Lord Fredrik, he gets punched off the island, destroying the head ship in the process, before crashing into the Snowmad fleet in the ocean below, destroying all the Snowmad ships and eradicating the Snowmad tribe. Lord Fredrik's horn falls back onto the island, which Donkey Kong blows to create a trail of flowers which surrounds the island, melting the snow and ice on the island and returning Donkey Kong Island to its original tropical state. Levels '''Lost Mangroves: * 1-1 Mangrove Cove * 1-2 Shipwreck Shore * 1-3 Canopy Chaos * 1-4 Trunk Twister * 1-A Zip-Line Shrine * 1-B Busted Bayou * 1-Boss Big Top Bop * 1-K Swinger Flinger Autumn Heights: * 2-1 Windmill Hills * 2-2 Mountain Mania * 2-3 Horn Top Hop * 2-4 Sawmill Thrill * 2-5 Alpine Incline * 2-6 Wing Ding * 2-A Crumble Cavern * 2-B Rodent Ruckus * 2-Boss Mountaintop Tussle * 2-K Bopopolis Bright Savannah: * 3-1 Grassland Groove * 3-2 Baobab Bonanza * 3-3 Frantic Fields * 3-4 Scorch 'n' Torch * 3-5 Twilight Terror * 3-6 Cannon Canyon * 3-A Rickety Rafters * 3-B Bramble Scramble * 3-Boss Triple Trouble * 3-K Precarious Pendulums Sea Breeze Cove: * 4-1 Deep Keep * 4-2 High Tide Ride * 4-3 Amiss Abyss * 4-4 Irate Eight * 4-5 Sea Stack Attack * 4-6 Current Capers * 4-A Rockin' Relics * 4-B Shoal Atoll * 4-Boss Fugu Face-Off * 4-K Spinning Spines Juicy Jungle: * 5-1 Harvest Hazards * 5-2 Reckless Ride * 5-3 Fruity Factory * 5-4 Panicky Paddles * 5-5 Jelly Jamboree * 5-6 Frosty Fruits * 5-A Beehive Brawl * 5-B Jammin' Jams * 5-Boss Punch Bowl * 5-K Platform Problems Donkey Kong Island: * 6-1 Homecoming Hijinxs * 6-2 Seashore War * 6-3 Aqueduct Assault * 6-4 Blurry Flurry * 6-5 Forest Folly * 6-6 Cliffside Slide * 6-7 Frozen Frenzy * 6-8 Meltdown Mayhem * 6-A Dynamite Dash * 6-B Icicle Arsenal * 6-Boss Volcano Dome * 6-K Slippy Spikes Secret Seclusion: * 7-1 Levitation Station * 7-2 Rocket Rails * 7-3 Crazy Clouds Category:Wii U games Category:Nintendo Switch games Category:Nintendo games Category:Retro Studios games Category:Donkey Kong games Category:Donkey Kong Country games Category:Side-scrolling games Category:Platforming games